A senior IRS officer, who was a part of CWG organising committee, has told a court here that dismissed OC chief Suresh Kalmadi was angry for his opposing the award of TSR contract to Swiss Timing by ignoring another firm MSL Spain.
Virendra Kumar Saksena, then member of the Organising Committee to evaluate the pre-qualification bids relating to TSR, recorded his statement with CBI as a witness and said Mr. Kalmadi was angry with him for circulating his dissenting opinion in the award of the contract.
A 1984 batch IRS officer, now working as the Joint Director General (Sponsorship), has also alleged that the then Director General V.K. Verma had threatened him with a CBI inquiry if he took a contrary view against their decision to award the contract to Swiss Timing.
Mr. Saksena said both the bidders — Swiss Timing and MSL Spain — could have qualified for the next stage.
He told the agency that Mr. Kalmadi had conveyed to all the members of the committee to select Swiss Timing ahead of MSL Spain for the TSR system contract.
Two bids were received for TSR contract from Swiss Timing and MSL Spain and the same were opened on November 4, 2009, he had testified before the agency.
“Subsequently, Suresh Kalmadi called a meeting in his room which was also attended by V.K. Verma and all the members of the tender evaluation committee. During the meeting (Mr.) Kalmadi conveyed the message that we have to select Swiss Timing for the TSR system. During the meeting, (Mr.) V.K. Verma had said he was sure that the committee members know how this can be done,” he stated.
Mr. Saksena also said when difference of opinion cropped up, Mr. Verma tried to convince him that the whole spirit of request for proposal (RFP) was that the vendor should have delivered the TSR contract earlier in one specified Games.
However, when he argued that at the pre-qualification stage, only five laid down pre-qualifying criterion should be looked at, Mr. Verma pointed out that “if I take a contrary view to his suggestions there might be a CBI inquiry against me.”
To forestall the pressure to select Swiss Timing, Mr. Saksena circulated his own comments on TSR pre-qualification bid. Sujit Panigrahi (ADG, Technology), the lone technology expert on the committee, was also of the view that both Swiss Timing and MSL Spain qualified for the next stage, the statement said.
Mr. Saksena was summoned by Mr. Kalmadi for circulating his own comments on TSR pre-qualification bid, it said.
“After I circulated my views, Suresh Kalmadi summoned me. He was very annoyed and angry and expressed his displeasure by saying that ‘we know how to get it corrected.’ I apologized to him for not having been able to meet his expectations,” Mr. Saksena said in his statement.
The Spanish firm had quoted a price less than the Swiss firm’s rate but was disqualified in the pre-qualification stage in an allegedly irregular manner even as its experience included having provided TSR services for the 2010 Asian Games at Guangzhou in China.
Mr. Kalmadi and Mr. Verma are now in judicial custody in connection with the TSR scam.
